Thanks for the responses and the advice. I'll definitely look at that article.
Unfortunately I think the principal is part of the problem. The school is fairly new, but my understanding is that the current president and other officers were hand picked by the principal - there was no election. Just a meeting that basically said, 'hey, we're your new board.' They've been in these positions ever since. They have one PVO meeting at the beginning of the year, then one at the end for "elections". The monthly board meetings are held during the day on weekdays intentionally so that parents of the PVO cannot attend.
Anyway, there are weird things going on, but a couple of us are going to the meeting to see what's what and we plan to run for a position and ask tons of questions that apparently everyone else is afraid to ask, LOL. If we can't join 'em, well kill 'em with questions!
That's so frustrating when you want to help and the board is not responsive to your offers! Do you know if the principal attends these meetings? I would say get the other parents, who are interested in helping, to attend the meeting. Rather than being contentious and re-hashing what they did and didn't do this school year I would be vocal and enthusiastic about the next school year and let them know you want to play an active role. Hopefully the principal will be there and once you are face to face with the current board and the principal, they will gladly take you up on your offers to volunteer.
This article may help you prepare (mentally!) for the meeting:
You need to know what it says in the by-laws about running for a position-- Did you have to chair event-- come to so many meetings, etc... in order to run-- do you have to be nominated--- what a shame that you have not had good communication this year-- especially kindergarten parents that are so excited to help--
Go to the principal if you do not get a response from the PTO--- he/she should be able to help at least facilitate an answer, maybe even a response from the President--- Good luck!
Hi everyone! I'm hoping for a little advice. My oldest daughter started Kindergarten last fall so this is the first time dealing with a public school and our seemingly non-existent PVO. Some of the other K parents and I have been quite disappointed with the way things are handled, most notably the lack of communication by the PVO.
To give a brief synopsis of this school year, there was a PVO meeting just after school started in August. I was excited to get involved, so I joined the "communications committee" due to my background and knowledge in this area. Everyone seemed to love the ideas that I and several of the other parents had. Problem is that there has been no meetings since, no communication, and we can't even get the President to answer emails or messages...not one.
Just found out over the weekend that they're having a PVO meeting tomorrow night. Nothing was sent home with the kids, no notice, no effort whatsoever to get word out to the parents. I understand they are conducting elections at this meeting which is funny because no one knows about it and no one knows how they conduct an election. We've never seen bylaws or anything.
I don't know how this meeting will go, but I'm a vocal person (not confrontational, just say whats on my mind) and feel like bringing up some of the major issues in regards to the PVO: complete non-communication, parents have never seen any kind of reports on the fundraisers done throughout the year, lack of getting parents involved, etc.
We don't even know what positions are open on the Board so I guess my question is this: If I, or one of the other parents wanted to run for President (or other position), can we do so even if the current President is not stepping down?
